batekoo: an afropunk dj mix

In case you don’t know, Batekoo is not a DJ; Batekoo is a Brazilian collective, and a party that collective throws. Batekoo also happens to be a culturally influential forces for Black gay and trans nightlife, and for LGBTQIA+ cultural self-determination in Brazil. Founded by Wesley Miranda and Mauricio Sacramento in Salvador de Bahia, Batekoo now takes place in numerous cities around the country. It will also pop up twice over the AFROPUNK Brooklyn weekend — both at the festival, and at one of the AFROPUNK After Dark events that will be going ’til sunrise.

Adrielle Coutinho is a Batekoo resident DJ in Salvador de Bahia, who will be gracing the AFROPUNK decks, and who along with the entire Batekoo traveling crew  — Wesley, Mauricio, Monique Evelle, Artur Santoro and Juju ZL — contributed this absolute fire mix of Brazilian electronic music to the AFROPUNK Mix series. They also answered some questions about the musical and DJ influences at Batekoo, and about the overlaps in the philosophy between their party and AFROPUNK.

Can you identify some of the music on the mix? What does the music mean/represent for you?

We tried to synthesize some of the most famous Black rhythms in Brazil. With this mix, we want to show some of the genuine Brazilian eletronic music, the Brazilian funk, and make it more famous around the world. This represents true Brazilian music made by the “peripheral population,’ that talks about their reality, without thinking about modesty or moralism.

How did you first get into DJ’ing, and who are some of your DJing influences?

I started playing at a club in my hometown, Salvador, but at that time I was more into playing indie rock and electro-rock. Some years later, I started to play hip-hop and Brazilian funk at gay clubs, and research Black rhythms and their influence to music in general. After that, I started playing other Black rhythms — like dancehall, moombahton, ragga — and I was introduced to vogue beats, Jersey and Baltimore club music…and this is what I play nowadays. My biggest influences are the GHE20G0TH1K DJs like LSDXOXO, Venus X, others like MikeQ, Byrell The Great, FLACO, and Mina — and some Brazilians like BADSISTA, Carlos do Complexo, Maffalda and Renan da Penha.

What kind of music do you want to or expect to play at AFROPUNK?

We want to present the original Brazilian funk mixed with other Black influences that we play today, like voguing, R&B and other electronic music.

What are you most looking forward to art AFROPUNK Brooklyn?

We are very much looking forward to meeting new people from the Black diaspora, not just artists but the audience in general, and we really want to show our original Brazilian culture made in the favelas by the poor Black people.

What does the phrase “We See You” mean to you?

We as Black people — considering all genders, sexualities, disabilities and all kind of things that make us different from each other — are not used to being seen by other people as equals, or, depending on your disability, are not seen at all, even by other Black people. This slogan “We see you” gives me this idea that everybody is being seen, and is important to AFROPUNK, making us think that it really cares about us and what we think, and considers all those differences.

Check for Adrielle and the Batekoo crew at AFROPUNK Brooklyn and AFROPUNK After Dark.

Check for more mixes in the AFROPUNK Mix Series